This year the Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save the Narmada Movement) completed 25 years. Though begun as a campaign against dams on the River Narmada, the NBA has evolved into a national campaign with an incisive critique on the so called ‘development’ model currently being pursued in India. For over two decades, the NBA has been a shining light for activists and campaigns for environment justice across the world.
Friends of the NBA rallied to the valley for a series of events that began with a meeting in Dhadgaon (Maharastra) on 22 October. The celebrations closed with a massive rally and convention in Badwani (Madhya Pradesh). Here is photo essay that offers us vignettes from the 25th NBA anniversary celebrations.
Articles
China-India People
The annual South - South People’s Exchange of 2010 took place between China and India and focused on the theme of climate change. China and India are two big emerging economies in Asia characterized by rapid industrialization, urbanization and economic growth. Climate change, to both countries, is not just an environmental issue, but one that is connected with urgent and complicated social, political and economical ones, with some international ramifications. Though both countries have similar positions in the UNFCCC negotiations, their domestic policies on climate change, the political space for civil society to engage in with climate change related policies and projects are very different.
Attending the World Education Forum in Ramallah
Aditi Bhaduri
On a lovely autumn day in late October I landed in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Mellow sunshine bathed the town in a warm glow. I was back there after five years and I saw signs of change all around – in the spruced up new houses, in the ATM machines that had not been there earlier, in the many cafes and boutiques that had sprouted up, and in the frantic constructions on. I was there to attend the World Education Forum, the Palestinian Territories had been chosen as the venue for it this year, on behalf of Focus on the Global South, an organisation committed to the Palestinian cause.
On a lovely autumn day in late October I landed in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank. Mellow sunshine bathed the town in a warm glow. I was back there after five years and I saw signs of change all around – in the spruced up new houses, in the ATM machines that had not been there earlier, in the many cafes and boutiques that had sprouted up, and in the frantic constructions on. I was there to attend the World Education Forum, the Palestinian Territories had been chosen as the venue for it this year, on behalf of Focus on the Global South, an organisation committed to the Palestinian cause.
From Narmada to Kanjhawla
Dardgoan: On 22nd and 23rd October 2010, the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) celebrated 25 years of its struggle with a series of events held across several towns and villages, from Dhadgoan (Maharashtra) to Badwani (Madhya Pradesh). Several movements and groups from around India who are fighting similar battles for their land, water, and natural resources joined in this celebration because they have in some way or the other been inspired by the non-violent method that the NBA has chosen to fight the cause of displaced tribals and farmers facing 'imminent destruction' with the completion of the Sardar Sarovar dam project.
Kashmir at Crossroads: A Way Forward
A Report
Peace Mumbai on 3rd September 2010, organised a closed door discussion on the current crisis in Kashmir and tried to look for a way forward. For the past several months the Kashmir valley has been in the grip of a spiraling violence. Protestors voicing their dissatisfaction with the authorities, unarmed except for stones, have had the security forces open fire on them. No one has been spared, including women. No fewer than 105 people, mostly youth, have been killed in Kashmir since April, when three young Kashmiris were killed in Machil in Kupwara.
Fake encounters, disappearances, imprisonment without charges, and killings with impunity of unarmed civilians voicing dissent and exercising their democratic rights have marked the lives of Kashmiris. Such gross violations of the human and constitutional rights of the Kashmiri people has been made possible by the imposition of draconian laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA) on the Kashmir Valley. This phase is different from that of the 1990s, when armed revolt had broken out against India. That was taken over by foreign militants, although the issues raised during that time still remain unresolved. The local Kashmiris distanced themselves from these militants. Today the uprising in Kashmir is almost exclusively indigenous and the youth today, as mentioned earlier, has only stones and no guns. In fact, some of them burnt the effigy of Syed Salahuddin, Chief of United Jehad Council, when he ridiculed the stone-pelters.
Peace Mumbai on 3rd September 2010, organised a closed door discussion on the current crisis in Kashmir and tried to look for a way forward. For the past several months the Kashmir valley has been in the grip of a spiraling violence. Protestors voicing their dissatisfaction with the authorities, unarmed except for stones, have had the security forces open fire on them. No one has been spared, including women. No fewer than 105 people, mostly youth, have been killed in Kashmir since April, when three young Kashmiris were killed in Machil in Kupwara.
Fake encounters, disappearances, imprisonment without charges, and killings with impunity of unarmed civilians voicing dissent and exercising their democratic rights have marked the lives of Kashmiris. Such gross violations of the human and constitutional rights of the Kashmiri people has been made possible by the imposition of draconian laws like the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and the Public Safety Act (PSA) on the Kashmir Valley. This phase is different from that of the 1990s, when armed revolt had broken out against India. That was taken over by foreign militants, although the issues raised during that time still remain unresolved. The local Kashmiris distanced themselves from these militants. Today the uprising in Kashmir is almost exclusively indigenous and the youth today, as mentioned earlier, has only stones and no guns. In fact, some of them burnt the effigy of Syed Salahuddin, Chief of United Jehad Council, when he ridiculed the stone-pelters.
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